Rāṣṭrakūṭa Dynasty,Rashtrakuta dynastyHindu dynasty that ruled the Deccan and neighbouring areas of India from c.about 755 to 975 CE.

Probably originally Dravidian farmers, they were the royal family of Lattalur (LātūrLatur, near OsmānābādOsmanabad). They spoke Kannada but also knew the northern Deccan language. Under RāṣṭrakūṭaRashtrakuta, who defeated a rival dynasty, the Cālukyas (see Cālukya dynasty)Chalukyas, the Deccan Empire empire became the second greatest political unit in India, covering the area from Mālwa to KānchiMalwa in western India to Kanchi (Kanchipuram) in the southeast. The importance of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas Rashtrakutas during this era is indicated by the fact that a Muslim traveller traveler wrote of the King king as being one of the four great rulers of the world (the world—the others being the Caliph caliph (ruler of the Muslims) and the emperors of Byzantium and China).

Several Rāṣṭrakūṭa Rashtrakuta monarchs were devoted to learning and the arts. The second king, Kṛṣṇa Krishna I (reigned c. 756–773), built the rock temple of Kailāsa Kailasa at Ellora (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983); another king, Amoghavarṣa Amoghavarsha I, who reigned from c.about 814 to 878, was the author of part of the KavirājamārgaKavirajamarga, the earliest known Kannada poem. Other kings were skilled in the art of war. Dhruva I subdued the Gaṅgas Gangas of Gaṅgavāḍi Gangavadi (Mysore), contained the Pallava of Kānchi (Kānchipuram)Pallavas of Kanchi, and defeated the king of Bengal and the Pratihāra Pratihara king, who were contending for Kannauj. Kṛṣṇa Krishna II, who succeeded in 878, reacquired GujarātGujarat, which Amoghavarsa Amoghavarsha I had lost, but failed to retake VeṅgiVengi. His grandson, Indra III, who came to the throne in 914, took captured Kannauj and brought Rāṣṭrakūṭa Rashtrakuta power to its peak. Kṛṣṇa Krishna III outdid him in northern campaigns (c. 940) and in a spectacular occupation of Kānchi Kanchi and much of the Tamil plains (948–966/67967). Khottiga Amoghavarṣa Amoghavarsha IV (968–972) failed to protect the capital, and its sack destroyed faith in the dynasty. The Emperor emperor fled to the Western GhātsGhats, where his line lingered ignominiously, supported by brave Gaṅga Ganga and Kadamba feudatories, until Taila I Cālukya Chalukya won the succession c.about 975.